Jennifer Imm
Postdoctoral Researcher
Queen Mary University of London
Sarah completed her PhD in the Complex Disease Epigenetics group under the supervision of Jonathan Mill, Leonard Schalkwyk and Chloe Wong in 2017, studying epigenetic correlates of neuropsychiatric health and disease. She has since joined Vardhman Rakyan’s lab at the Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London and is currently working on epigenetic and genetic factors linked to obesity, diabetes and ageing using both computational and experimental approaches.
as541@exeter.ac.uk
+44(0)1392-408162
Functional characterization of ANK1, a novel gene implicated in Alzheimer’s disease
Adam Smith is a PhD student at the University of Exeter Medical School, under the supervision of Dr Katie Lunnon and Professor Jonathan Mill. He graduated with a degree in Medical Science from Exeter University in 2014, where he had particular interests in genetics and neurology. Adam spent a year as an associate genetic technician for the Royal Devon and Exeter Genetic NHS service. His PhD now focuses on exploring the epigenetic changes in the ANK1 gene, and how these could lead to disease. The project aims to refine the extent of various epigenetic changes in the ANK1 gene in Alzheimer’s disease, relating this information to both levels of gene expression and characteristic measures of disease stage.
PhD Student
King’s College London
Helen.H.Spiers@kcl.ac.uk
+44 (0) 20 7848 0748
Helen Spiers is a final year PhD student at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience’s MRC Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, King’s College London. The focus of Helen’s PhD has been to characterize life-course epigenetic dynamics across multiple tissue types, with a particular focus on DNA methylation changes associated with human brain development. Helen first became interested in epigenetics whilst studying Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry at Oxford University (2005 – 2009). After graduating in 2009 with an MBiochem Helen temporarily worked as a Medical Writer (2009 – 2011), before she began her research at King’s College London.
Research Fellow
University of Exeter Medical School / University of Exeter School of Biosciences
j.viana@exeter.ac.uk
+44(0)1392-408162
Joana graduated in Cell and Molecular Biology at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, in 2011. She completed an MSc in Neuroscience at King’s College London in 2012. During this period, she developed a research project under the supervision of Dr Ruth Pidsley and Prof Jonathan Mill. The primary aim of her project was to access global methylation differences in post-mortem brain samples from schizophrenia patients and controls. From September of 2012 and January 2013 Joana worked as a research technician with the Psychiatric Epigenetics Group at King’s College London. She completed her PhD under the supervision of Prof Jonathan Mill and Dr Eduarda Santos in modelling epigenetic responses to schizophrenia-associated environmental risks and antipsychotic medication. She is currently a Postdoc working on the MATRICS project researching Disruptive Behaviour Disorder.
To view Joana’s CV please click here.
baocong.xia@kcl.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7848 0629
MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre/ MRC Centre for Developmental Neurobiology
Baocong graduated with a BSc in Neuroscience from King’s College London in 2013, before undertaking a Master’s degree in Neuroimaging at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) where he investigated the test/retest reliability of diffusion imaging measure in patients with chronic pain under the supervision of Dr Matthew Howard. Baocong is currently working towards a PhD in the MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre at King’s College London under the supervision of Dr Chloe Wong and Dr Robert Hindges. His project aims to investigate the role of epigenetic mechanisms in neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder.
burrage@exeter.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1392 408223
Joe graduated with a degree in Genetics from the University of Leicester in 2008. During this period he also undertook a 12 month industrial placement with AstraZeneca’s genetic support unit at Alderley Edge to develop DNA methylation analysis procedures. He followed this with a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology under the supervision of Dr Irina Stancheva. During his PhD Joe investigated the somatic cell functions of chromatin remodelling ATPase LSH. His epigenetic research interests were diverted when he revealed a novel role for LSH in DNA damage repair, work which was published in the Journal of Cell Biology in 2012. During his PhD Joe also participated in a number of industrial placements with CellCentric working on a range of projects including the organisation of the 25 Years of Epigenetics conference at the University of Cambridge. Joe has now returned to Epigenetic research as a research technician to support the work of Professor Jonathan Mill’s epigenetic research group at the University of Exeter.
Research Technician
King’s College London
Agnieszka.kepa@kcl.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 5271
Agnes is currently working for the Epigenetics core service lab at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London. She completed her PhD in Psychiatric Genetics at the SGDP Centre in 2014, where her main focus was tofunctionally characterise brain-specific transcription factors. Throughout her PhD she became interested in DNA methylation and epigenomic profiling in neurodevelopmental disorders. Agnes joined Epigenetics Group in 2015 where she employs cutting-edge methods to assess DNA methylomic changes associated with disease in a wide variety of samples.